Page 73 of Princess

“I… I didn’t know any of that.”

He shoots me a wry look. “What the hell did you think after we started training and I was turned on around you like every other minute?”

A giggle surprises me. “I thought it was just… it was just a physical thing that didn’t mean anything.”

He reaches over to cup my cheek. “You were still supposed to be off-limits to me. You were sheltered and vulnerable and forced into a situation where it wasn’t possible for you to get normal experience with men. It felt wrong to press my advantage with you just because I was the only one around.”

“So what changed?”

“You did. You kept making the first move with me, and that was the only way I could convince myself it was allowed. So, at each step, I kept waiting for you to make the next move. Only then could I take what I wanted. Only then that I could allow myself to have it. But it still felt like… I was doing something wrong. Touching you. Fucking you. Being with you. It was everything I wanted and everything I couldn’t have. So I kept holding back, even when it seemed like you… you wanted me too. Until I was so completely in love with you that I’d never be able to stay away even if I was supposed to.”

I’m staring up at him, lips parted, cheeks still hotly flushed. “So you… you love me? For real?”

“Of course I love you, princess. I can barely remember how it felt to exist when I didn’t.”

My eyes are burning, filling with tears. But they don’t fall this time. “I love you too.”

He gazes at me for a long time, his expression deep, his head shaking just slightly.

“What?” I whisper, suddenly self-conscious for speaking the words even though they’re finally, finally safe.

“Nothing. Just I’ve dreamed for years of hearing you say that. But I never really believed you would.”

“Well, if you want to know the truth, it sounds like you constructed a lot of ridiculous nonsense that kept me in a forbidden category of your mind when I shouldn’t have been there. I’m a fully autonomous human being who can decide who I want to be with and who I want to love. I’m not your princess in a tower.”

“I’ve finally learned you shouldn’t be in a tower, but we’re going to have to disagree over whether or not you’re my princess.”

I can’t help but giggle at the slight indignation on his face. “Okay. As long as you don’t think I’m forbidden anymore.”

He leans over and presses his lips against mine. “I think I might have gotten over that at last. Jesus, you nearly gave me a heart attack by flirting with Ben like that. I’d just started getting hopeful and then you went and took it away.”

“I wasn’t—”

He narrows his eyes into a glare.

“Okay. But it was done purely out of desperation, so you’re really to blame for that too.”

He leans over to kiss me. It’s very sweet. But then he mutters, “You could have just asked me, you know.”

I stiffen with a jerk, pulling away from him. “I know that. But I’ve made every other first move between us, and I’m getting tired of it. I’m not cut out for it. It makes me very insecure. So it’s your turn. You’re responsible for first moves for the foreseeable future.”

The corners of his mouth are turned up. “All right. Sounds fair. I’ll take over all the first moves. I’ll make so many you’ll no doubt find me arrogant and obnoxious. But just remember you asked for it.”

I try to hold on to my sober expression, but it’s a losing battle. I dissolve into laughter, and he pulls me into a hug.

For a minute, we just sit in the Jeep and hold each other until my insides melt into mush.

To cover for it, I finally pull away and ask, “So what’s my surprise?”

“Oh. Yeah.” He puts the Jeep into drive and turns down the gravel drive. “It’s not fixed up. So you’ll have to imagine what it could be rather than what it is.”

“What on earth have you found?” I ask, peering ahead but not able to see anything because the drive curves too tightly.

“You’ll see.”

Grant takes us around the curve, and the woods break. Only then do I see a little cabin at the end of the gravel. And beyond the cabin is a lake.

A pretty little lake.

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